Jordan Part Three: A Lemon Scotch

A lemon scotch - it's a drink.  You've probably never heard of it.  It is the English translation of the Arabic translation of whiskey sour.  Let me start at the beginning.

One of my favorite and most interesting things to write about is cultural difference. You learn quite a lot in the first few hours and days within a new culture and my trip to Jordan to see Dusty was no exception.

As I noted in Part One of the Jordan "chapter," I was greeted with smiles as soon as I crossed into Jordan. I stopped in at the tourists information/police office before heading into to town to make sure I didn't get ripped off, or do something dangerous and stupid, or end up in Saudi Arabia. While we technically live in the Middle East, Israel (and Tel Aviv in particular) is nothing like its neighbors. (Exageration - it is clearly much like Jordan than Alaska is like Jordan, but Alaska and Israel are probably more similar than Jordan and Israel...but I digress!)

Where to start....the Middle East is not homogeneous.  If you read our post from Egypt on womens' clothing (see photo on the left) you would see that there are variations in the level of conservativeness within the Muslim communities in the Middle East (in addition to the other large communities that are other religions). Within some of the most conservative sects women are almost completely covered in black except for their eyes and must be accomapied by a male family member when leaving the house (our friend here refers to them as ninjas).  Dusty had alertered me that the women he had seen in Aqaba (which weren't many) all had their heads covered.  So you can see that a young white woman, traveling by herself, without her head covered might draw some attention. But I'd learned my lesson in Egypt and came prepared to try not to offend the locals by wearing conservative tops, pants and having my scarf ready to wrap around my head. I don't mind covering up because then I don't get as many stares, I look like a smart and informed Westerner and I secretly feel like Jasmin from the movie Aladin when she sneaks out to the market! 

I've told you all of this so that you can fully appreciate this story:

If my traveling solo without a head cover wasn't enough to offend the locals, my presence in a bar (Gasp!)and the audacity to order my own drink would (oh the promiscuity!). Not only does the Middle East lack to wonderful drinking culture of Germany (in that it is controlled and tasty and cultural), but Muslims don't drink alcohol. This translates into more than just a bar of only tourists.  Because there aren't locals in the bars they are less busy. Because they aren't busy, the bartenders make fewer drinks. Becuase they make fewer drinks, they aren't so good at it. Thus, my general rule is to stick to beer which may be watered down but it won't be vinegar like the local wine and it won't be an overpriced softdrink with a splash of alcohol.  But as long as I was breaking so many cultural rules just by being there - I figured I may as well go ahead and take my chances with a mixed drink.

"Can you make a whiskey sour?" This was a question, not my order. Are you CAPABLE? Do you know HOW? The eager bartender smiled and rushed around the bar consulting with his colleagues. "Yes!" was the enthusiastic reply 5 minutes later. The poor guy confused Jim Beam and Johnny Walker, mixeing one part scotch with one part lemon juice.  I don't know the recipe - but it involves whiskey, not scotch and I'm prety sure it is more than lemon juice or they'd call it a whiskey lemon.  He did shake it up and serve it over ice.  :)

The bar staff all watched as I took the first sip. Mmmm! According to my Flavor Bible (thanks Greg!) our perception of taste is equal parts a.) chemical reactions to flavors, b.) temerapture and c.) the emotional environment (think of Thanksgiving dinner - as long as the food is hot and you are with family you will remember it as being a great meal).  I don't know if it really tasted refreshing and great, or if the genuine effort by the staff to make us feel welcome and fact that I was having a drink with my big brother compensated for the taste.  Either way - I made the bartenders day when I ordered another and I was more than happy to sip a lemon scotch if it meant more time with my brother!